Creating non-traditional education opportunities for corrections staff.

Opportunities to pursue a college education can be limited for correctional staff, especially for those who work shifts, are single parents or work at institutions located far away from established college campuses. Most college instruction is structured for full-time students who attend classes during the day. Even colleges that offer evening or weekend courses may offer them only at distant campuses.

While many colleges and universities recognize the needs of non-traditional students, limited budgets may hinder their ability to provide curricula to working professionals. However, several alternatives to traditional classes exist for correctional staff. Correctional agencies can play a key role in coordinating these educational opportunities.

A survey of your agency's staff may reveal that there are more potential students than you think. An apparent disinterest by staff in pursuing education may have more to do with the lack of available courses or inconvenient class schedules than a lack of educational goals. Even for the most determined student, completing a college degree program at an isolated facility can be nearly impossible.

One way to meet the needs of interested staff is to bring college courses into your area. By identifying staff interested in attending college, your agency can define a market to be served by schools in your region. If your agency is small, you may want to consider joining other agencies to create a larger potential student base. Other professions facing similar challenges--such as fire service, police, and health care--can be an important market of potential students. Armed with this information, your agency can begin the job of bringing college courses to its staff.

The Technological Classroom

Modern technology provides a variety of opportunities for non-traditional students to pursue an education outside the traditional classroom setting. The availability of satellite uplinks, fiberoptic and microwave transmission technology, teleconferencing facilities, cable television systems and videotape provides a number of opportunities for electronic instruction. Even the most remote locations have access to some of this technology.

Putting together the appropriate mix of systems is the key to providing college courses to students who are unable to attend classes at established college campuses. Below are some strategies to help your agency develop educational opportunities for staff.

Satellite uplinks. Telecommunications satellite technology has been a part of America's educational system for several years. Some educational service districts and private sector contractors deliver live instructional programming through the use of satellite uplinks. These services are used primarily to provide supplemental instruction to small or remote elementary and secondary schools that otherwise could not afford to diversify their curricula. The primary purpose of these technological classrooms is to deliver courses during the normal school day, but some have been adapted to deliver college courses after hours to non-traditional students.

Two forms of satellite instruction are currently in use--interactive and passive. Interactive instructional programming is transmitted from a studio to a satellite in synchronous orbit around the earth and re-broadcast back to earth, where it is picked up by a satellite receiving station. The instructor's image and other visual aids are transmitted by satellite to the students in a classroom. Using ordinary telephone lines, students can transmit questions or comments back to the instructor.

In 1988, Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, Wash., used this form of interactive instruction to deliver a baccalaureate degree program to fire service personnel who otherwise would not have been able to pursue a college education because of their rotating work schedules.

Passive satellite instruction is another means of delivering courses to students in remote locations. This method generally uses prerecorded instructional programming and does not provide students the opportunity to ask questions and obtain feedback from the instructor.

Access to satellite courses requires a satellite receiving station. Some of your agency's staff may already own such equipment or your local school district may be using a receiving station for supplemental instructional programming. You may be able to arrange for use of this equipment at times when it is available.

Fiber-optic and microwave transmission. Fiber-optic and microwave transmission technology are similar to satellite technology, except that the signals are broadcast over land-based networks. Regional television programming often is transmitted using one of these two networks. The cable television provider in your area may be using this technology to obtain programming from regional stations.

Colleges and universities with branch campuses also use this type of technology to transmit instructional programming from one campus to another. If these broadcasts are delivered to your community or if one of these broadcast networks runs through your area, you may be able to arrange access to the network for your agency to receive course broadcasts.

Teleconferencing facilities. Teleconferencing is a service used by businesses and government agencies that allows people in distant locations to hold live meetings or training sessions at various sites. Teleconferencing can use a satellite receiver, fiber-optic cables, telephone lines or microwave technology to transmit audio and video signals to all participants. You may have a teleconferencing site near your facility.

Teleconferencing can be a means of providing courses to remote locations during otherwise idle evening or weekend hours. Explore the availability of teleconferencing equipment near your agency's facilities as a possible source for instructional programming.

Local cable television services. Local cable television providers can be a useful network for delivering instructional programming to staff. Some public television stations offer instructional programming through local cable providers. For example, Eastern Washington University entered into a cooperative agreement with several cable television systems in 1988 to deliver its fire service instructional programming to students in cable-viewing areas.

Programs can be delivered to the cable television system using one of the technological methods already discussed or by pre-recorded videotape. Students can view the programming as a live broadcast, or record it for viewing at a more convenient time. Federal regulations require cable systems to provide public access programming that can be used for delivering courses.

Pre-recorded telecourses. Pre-recorded telecourses are delivered to students by pre-recorded videotapes instead of through satellite or cable transmission. Because all that is required is a VCR and a television for viewing the class session, this method of instruction can be less costly than other telecourse delivery methods. While Eastern Washington University was able to deliver its courses to most of its fire service program students via satellite or cable television, some students were mailed videotapes of the classes because the broadcasts were not available in their area.

Your agency may be able to arrange for specific college courses on videotape if enough students enroll in the course to make the effort cost-effective. Some agencies use their own equipment to videotape courses at college campuses and bring the tapes back to the agency for staff to watch.

Correspondence Courses

If the technology already presented for delivering college courses to your facility is outside your agency's capabilities, don't give up hope. Many colleges and universities offer correspondence courses as off-campus alternatives to pursuing a degree.

While these courses vary from college to college, they generally require students to complete assignments that demonstrate their ability to comprehend the material presented in the course text. Some courses also require students to complete course projects or pass written examinations. Exams generally need to be monitored, and the student may be responsible for locating an acceptable test monitor as part of the enrollment process.

The National University Continuing Education Association publishes an independent study catalog listing more than 10,000 correspondence courses from more than 70 colleges and universities. Some schools offer complete degree programs by correspondence. The guide is published by Petersen's Guides in Princeton, N.J., and is available at libraries and bookstores.

Another source is Campus-Free College Degrees: Thorson's Complete Guide to Accredited Off-Campus College Degree Programs, which lists more than 100 off-campus study programs and offers information on the home-study process and ways to earn credit for life and military experience. Published by Thorson's Guides, it is available through ACA.

While correspondence courses offer a wide selection of topics, they may not be for everyone. Although the faculty member who wrote the course outline may be available to answer questions by mail or telephone, some students may lack the discipline or ability to pursue a self-directed study program.

On-site Faculty

Another alternative to "technological classrooms" is the use of correctional educators as on-site instructors. Staff from your agency's offender education programs can be a source of instructors for college-level courses for your staff. Some of these educational staff may be certifiable as adjunct faculty for a college or university in your area and can contract with the school to deliver instruction to your facility's staff. Even those who lack the credentials to become university-level instructors can still serve as test proctors or on-site teaching assistants for telecourses or correspondence courses.

Another source of college-level instructors is your agency's administration or other professionals within the local community who qualify to become adjunct faculty for a college or university. Local law enforcement agencies, health care providers, legal service providers and other government agencies can be a source of qualified college-level instructors.

Fostering Competition

In securing college courses for your agency's staff, it may be useful to foster competition among public and private colleges and universities in your area. While one school may show indifference to your agency's request to offer courses at your facility, soliciting participation from several can turn that indifference into a desire to compete for students. At one correctional facility in Washington state, this strategy resulted in similar degree programs being offered by two public universities that a year earlier had not provided courses for institutional staff.

Reduced Tuition

While tuition costs may be beyond the reach of many correctional staff, your agency can assist students by attempting to negotiate a lower tuition rate for staff. Though it required nearly three years of negotiations, one private college in Washington state reduced its regular tuition rate by half for correctional staff. In return, the agency agreed to provide all registration and student advisory services for its employees.

While negotiating such an agreement may take time, the payoff for your agency's staff can be enormous--especially if the college or university is the only higher education facility in your area.

If on-site education is not an option for your agency, there are a number of other ways you can help staff attend college. These include providing assistance with travel and child care arrangements, providing access to educational materials and equipment for use in completing assignments, offering tuition assistance and providing funding for books and other learning materials.

The strategies presented in this article for developing on-site educational opportunities for staff are by no means exhaustive, but they illustrate the variety of methods available. No single strategy is likely to fulfill your agency's needs, but a careful combination of the most appropriate strategies can make it possible for staff to obtain a college education despite obstacles to attending traditional programs.

Staff development is an important goal for any correctional agency. What is needed is a commitment by agencies to identify staff interested in pursuing educational opportunities, identify available resources and pursue those strategies that make best use of those resources.

Earn a Degree Off-campus

The National Universities Degree Consortium (NUDC) consists of about 25 land-grant and state universities formed to provide adult and part-time learners the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree through a flexible, off campus program. NUDC uses a national television cable/satellite distribution system called the Mind Extension University for delivering its courses.

Among the NUDC member universities are:

* Univesity of Alabama

* University of Arizona 

* California State University, Berkeley/Long Beach/Santa Barbara

* Colorado State University 

* Kansas State University 

* Oklahoma State University 

* Pennsylvania State University 

* State University of New York/Empire State College

* University of Maine-Augusta

* University of Maryland, University College

* University of New Orleans 

* University of Oklahoma 

* University of South Carolina 

* Utah State University 

* Washington State University 

For more information on these courses, contact the university in your area or call 1-800-777-MIND.

Ron Andring is a correctional sergeant at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Wash. He earned his baccalaureate degree in a non-traditional program from Eastern Washington University and, as a graduate student, now commutes 165 miles to the university's Spokane branch campus.